


Sweet Lie

by scrapbullet



Series: Born To [6]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst and Feels, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3315236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapbullet/pseuds/scrapbullet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You see it, as I do," Tauriel says. She stands at parade rest one step behind and to the left, as is befitting her station as Captain; tall and strong with hands ever ready to unsheathe her deadly blades, but not even she can quell the concern in his breast. The darkness of their once-beloved forest has seeped into the heart of Thranduil Oropherion, and it is not only Legolas that fears for him. </p><p>Legolas grimaces, fighting back bile. "Say it not, friend; t'would be treason."</p><p>(Wherein Legolas cannot stick his head in the sand any longer, and Tauriel is his sounding board.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Lie

The King has succumbed to a sickness of the mind; one that drives him to covet far more than mere gems and trinkets. Not even the purest mithril could turn his head when he has a prize worth more than the largest vein of the yearned-for metal, and through it all Legolas can only watch as his father and liege-lord turns into a creature that is _other_ ; a monster in more ways than one.

That he has essentially abducted that very man and drugged him to complacency is, quite frankly, beyond the realm of comprehension.

"You see it, as I do," Tauriel says. She stands at parade rest one step behind and to the left, as is befitting her station as Captain; tall and strong with hands ever ready to unsheathe her deadly blades, but not even she can quell the concern in his breast. The darkness of their once-beloved forest has seeped into the heart of Thranduil Oropherion, and it is not only Legolas that fears for him. 

Legolas grimaces, fighting back bile. "Say it not, friend; t'would be treason."

Beneath the balcony on which they stand two mortal children play in the court yard, their laughter a reminder of happier times past; when Legolas was but a leafling and the apple of the Greenwood's eye. 

"You would have me speak a lie?" 

The boy, Bain, ducks and weaves under the questing hands of his sister, the twitch of his lips a near-perfect mirror of his sire. The girl, Sigrid, huffs, out of breath, but is not deterred, determined to win their game of tag.

There is a lump in Legolas' throat that refuses to shift, no matter how hard he swallows.

"I would have you speak of it not at all, but I know you too well. There was ever a yearning in him for one who could fulfil him in a way my mother could not."

In truth, he understands little. Once, he had sat at his fathers' knee and known love and tenderness; the warmth of Thranduil's regard. His sweet mother, too, had basked in it, and together they three had been happy. Now, ah, now, Legolas does not know where he is to belong, and, most of all... he fears for his brother and sister.

Ai! His siblings! He has tried to ignore it for so very long, but he cannot, not any longer. 

Bard, with his grim and stoic countenance, is a victim, and so too are his offspring.

"You can hide no longer, Legolas," Tauriel sighs, and the lines around her eyes are tight and troubled. As Captain of the Guard she has little contact with the bargeman and his fledgling family, but they have met, indeed, and her fondness for the little ones is plain. "He is with child again."

"I know." He had known it the moment Thranduil had dismissed him from the royal apartments; the smell of cinnamon and wood ash on the air. "We will have to wait until the babe is born."

Tauriel quirks a brow, inquisitive. "You are sure you want to do this? Your father will be... _incensed._ "

Legolas only nods in assent, his gaze fixed below-

"This cannot be allowed to continue, Tauriel. To be a broodmare and a prisoner... is no life at all."

-below, where two innocent mortal children play on, bright and carefree.


End file.
